The Flickering Myth Reaction – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer

The Flickering Myth writing team give their thoughts on the trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles….

Cowabunga dudes! The new trailer landed for the Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and has – surprise, surprise – split opinions.

But what did the Flickering Myth writing staff and editorial team think?

Scott J Davis: Awful, just plain awful. “Produced by Michael Bay” says it all. Still, the young boy from the 80s is curious, so will probably see it….holding no hope though.

James Garcia: I don’t mind a dumb movie every now and then, as long as it’s a fun dumb movie. But this trailer just makes the new TMNT look like work. It’s loud, busy, ugly, and the turtles are annoying. The dialogue is atrocious and the Shredder looks goofy as hell. I was remaining cautiously optimistic about this movie, but that went completely out the window with this trailer.

Helen Murdoch:To say that I feel physically sickened by that trailer is a massive understatement. Awful music choice at the end, obvious jokes and it all feels so forced. The only vague glimmer of good was seeing Will Arnett but even he couldn’t make me go and see this!

James Garcia:I just hate that they’ve gone the “dark and gritty” route with TMNT. This should be a bright, fun, Marvel-esque experience, not some dour, “realistic” take on goddamn ninja turtles.

Luke Owen:I don’t think I’m alone, but I actually kind of liked it. Granted, as a lifelong TMNT fan, the trailer could have been them talking about politics and I still would have been psyched to see it. I have little doubt it will be pants, but I can’t help but get excited – just in the same way I was for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Although, that dubstep music did make me burst out laughing.

Amon Warmann: Much, much better than the first trailer. Not sure about the use of dubstep, but the action looks great – to be expected from a Bay produced film – and the film looks to have captured the turtles’ personalities very well. I’m still not sold on Megan Fox though.

Martin Deer:When you actively hate the sight, sound and mannerisms of the title characters, you have a pretty big problem. That being said I liked Mikey. I’ll go and see it for Mikey.

Steven K. Leadbetter: To paraphrase Deckard, I didn’t like this when I walked in here, now I’m twice as…erm…not liking this. Horrid, spinny, stabby, noisy, slithery abortion of a film, the only redeeming feature of which could possibly be if Megan Fox is somehow beaten to death with a lump hammer or chopped up by a runaway power tool with clearly enviable critical opinion.. So, yes, I’m sure it will do very well.

Thomas Harris:As someone yet to truly discover TMNT, there is nothing attractive about this. Maybe Will Arnett. We all like Will Arnett. They also happen to look like weird male genitals.

Steven K. Leadbetter:My eyes feel dirty. I’m getting some Optrex.

Gav Logan:I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as some are making out. I’m kinda over the whole Michael Bay argument. I’m just gonna enjoy it for what it is.

Chris Cooper:I enjoyed the trailer. The turtles all have clear personalities, and were amusing overall. I did love the Batman voice joke, and the purposeful dig at ‘grim and gritty’. The look has taken some getting used to but once they’re moving I’m cool with it. Why would whatever anthropomorphised them not give them facial features too? Still have issues with Megan Fox, but the hint that William Fichtner isn’t Shredder and he is standing on his shoulders (upgrading your armour) pleases me.

There is flashy noisy action (I’m cool with that), and the dubstep is silly but not offensive. I don’t expect a TMNT movie to broach the same subjects in the same depth as the comics. I expect good fun, humour, a strong brotherly bond, and some cool action. Somewhat surprisingly I might just get that. Even if it does badly, it at least seems this won’t be as bad as what has happened to Grimlock.

Ray Willmott: I’m scared and excited. I can’t get my head around the oversized turtles but that Shredder looks awesome

Anthony Donovan Stokes: Horrible Trailer. The dubstep music clashes with the dark tone, the jokes aren’t funny, the dialogue is horrible, and whoever voices Michaelango needs to retire from voice acting. I’m not going to blame Michael Bay for this, more so the studio for feeling the need to remake this

Chris Cooper:Why wouldn’t they reboot it? The last cinematic outing for the turtles was 2007. That’s an age in a time when Spider-Man gets a makeover 5 years later and we’ll see Batman only 4 years after Nolan’s trilogy. TMNT has longevity, and consistently attracts audiences and business.

The dark tone? They make a joke about the grimmest and grittiest character reboot there’s been! It’s just reflecting the times. Even if you don’t like the humour it can’t be denied that it’s there.

Gav Logan:Well said Chris. It’s no darker than the original movie. I understand people s reservations, Jesus I was livid when I first heard of Bays involvement but I was a huge Turtles fan when I was a kid so im just excited to see these characters again. Id have to agree that I’ll probably never be fully onboard with Megan Fox’s inclusion though. Personally my worry was Shredder and Splinter. Still havent seen enough of Splinter, I hope the CGI holds up. Sure Shredder’s armour looks awesome but it remains to be seen how much they’ll mess around with his story

Chris Cooper:People do forget the tone of the first film. It is surprisingly adult, with Raphael nearly getting beaten to death, a Foot Soldier electrocuted, Splinter kidnapped and beaten, plus Shredder getting crushed in a garbage truck (ooops!). Not forgetting the Fagin like stealing and kids smoking. But it also had cowabunga, saluting the death of a mouldy pizza, Mikey and Donnie messing around and jokes about Casey Jones mistaking claustrophobia for homosexuality. Funny yet serious is what TMNT should be.

Luke Owen:People also forget that the Turtles have been involved in some stupid s**t over the years. Coming out of Their Shells, Operation Blue Line, The Next Mutation, Turtles Tunes, The Punk Frogs, Farmer Turtles etc. So Mikey making a Batman joke or dubstep music doesn’t seem so bad in the brand scheme of things.

We should also mention that the original Mirage comics were “dark and gritty” with elements of humour. So they’re at least keeping it in the original spirit.

Chris Cooper:Any franchise that has been around this many years will have good and bad bits. For every Year One there is a Bat-Mite. I’m just willing to give this a chance now.

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So, just like the rest of the Internet, our writing staff are split down the middle – but it is leading more towards the negative. There are those who actively hate the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer and those who are willing to give it a try. Which camp do you sit in?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set for release on August 8th in the States and on October 17th in the UK, with Jonathan Leibesman (Wrath of the Titans) directing and Michael Bay (Transformers: Age of Extinction) producing. Featuring in the cast are Megan Fox (Transformers) as April O’Neil, Pete Ploszek (Parks and Recreation) and Johnny Knoxville (Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa) as Leonardo, Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) as Raphael, Jeremy Howard (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as Donatello, Noel Fisher (Battle Los Angeles) as Michaelangelo, Danny Woodburn (Seinfeld) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) as Splinter, William Fichtner (The Dark Knight) as The Shredder, Will Arnett (The LEGO Movie) as Vernon Fenwick, Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) as Bernadette Thompson, and K. Todd Freeman (The Dark Knight) as Baxter Stockman.

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Whatev

This movie’s gonna suck whale ass.

Kal83

Don’t watch it then!

bob

looks cool I think ppl just love to hate stuff its the way of the world now so much hate in people just have fun with a new twist on an old classic